The Threat of the Thalassic Threesome
by Mikel Midnight
Summary: Elseworld's Finest set in Sweden, in which a counterpart of Thor and Wingman must rescue the hero known as the Leaper from the trio of King Kraken, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and Lutefisk.
He knew his size and strength were deceptive, making him look like a clumsy strongman, when in fact his natural acrobatic ability perpetually allowed him to catch his opponents by surprise. He rebounded from wall to wall, evading the iron tentacles as they reached for him, his specialized armor absorbing the impact easily. But when the lye spray began to blind him and corrode his lungs, and he felt the animalistic claws as hard as diamond catch onto his limbs, Olaf Bjornson found that for the first time he could not leap high enough.

* * *

"So there we were, face to face with Loki, the Norse god of evil! Thor quickly found himself, once again, wrapped helmet to toe in magic chains, and I was staring down the prospect of being magically transformed into a frog. Fortunately, I remembered something that Professor Yale, the archeologist, told me about rumors that Loki was born in the 5th dimension, and possible ways he could be defeated. So I tricked Loki into saying his own name backwards, and in an instant he vanished … along with the chains and the effects of all the other spells he had cast!"

The other teenagers in the Lord Olsen Fan Club applauded and cheered, even though most of them knew this story and the subsequent conclusion by heart: how in gratitude Thor had sent his sidekick, Jimmy the Red, back to the 20th century from whence the lad had come. How the legendary god's hammer had been discovered by museum proprietor Henry Meke, and how Thor had used that connection to the present day to survive Ragnarok and now once more protected the Earth, once again accompanied by his best pal.

Later, after the others had gone, Lord Olsen approached the ancient grandfather clock in the central room of the castle. Turning the dials manually to midnight, the clock swung to the side, revealing a secret compartment. Henry Meke was one of the very few who knew that the hammer of Thor on display at the museum was a clever forgery, previously owned by a gangster named Fairytales Fenton when he had gone up against the mysteryman known as Doctor Fate. Jimmy grasped the handle of the true hammer and, with a great electrical spark, was transformed into the mighty Thor himself. He whirled the hammer in a twisting motion to gain momentum and then threw it into the air, letting it pull him skyward as he embarked on his regular patrol.

* * *

"Well, that's the end of Captain Shark," Wingman said in satisfaction. Crouched at his feet, the scarlet-clad woman known as Sigourney Amundsen placed two fingers on the fallen man's throat to check his pulse, and she nodded. "He was almost the end of the Sea Devils," she said, rising to her feet, "we're all grateful for the help."

"Sometimes it's best to leave crimefighting to the professionals," he replied. Without another word, he whirled around and headed back to the flying wing he used most often for transportation. He did not notice the pair of men who silently witnessed the interaction: one being a man in a long black cloak and broad hat, and the other a short figure in dark cloak and hood.

As he traversed the skies on the way to his headquarters, he received a call and picked it up to hear the familiar voice of Police Commissioner Harald Harst. Harst was a close acquaintance of Wingman's secret identity Benedict Rundstrom, and it was the crime-fighter's practice to maintain slightly different enough mannerisms to conceal the dual identifications. "Yes, commissioner?" he said into the audio hookup.

"I just got a call from Professor Neilson at the Rockheart Electronics Factory," Harst said. "They had a break-in, and according to reports, this was no ordinary pair of safecrackers. I think you ought to go down and take a look."

"I'll be there," Wingman replied as the flying wing's trajectory arced, heading north.

The flying wing landed almost silently, and Wingman dismounted. "They weren't trying to be subtle, were they?" Wingman said after Neilsen hailed him in greeting. One wall of the building had been torn open, the area cordoned off by police tape. "What did they take?"

"A large quantity of cobalt, from the research lab," Neilsen said, and then looked hesitant for a moment. "Also some old papers from my personal research, sort of a hobby really, written by an Englishman named Wraxall more than a hundred years ago. Alchemy, life extension, that sort of thing."

Wingman ran his fingertips over the exterior wall. "I've seen this pattern of damage before … Magnus de la Gardie … the King Kraken. Not even bothering to conceal his presence."

Neilsen's eyes widened. "Count Magnus? He was one of the subjects of Wraxall's papers … and something called the Black Pilgrimage."

"Perhaps some ancestor of my arch-enemy, though I've never known him to show an interest in alchemy before. But who knows? Family makes us do strange things."

* * *

As he flew above the Stockholm skies, Thor heard the cry: ᚦᛟᚾᚨᚱ!. As ever, his ears were attuned to the use of his name in the old language, and he altered the direction of his flight. "Professor Yale," he said as he hovered outside the archeologist's office. It was Yale's discovery of the stone tablet, on which was engraved the mystic cantrip which had transported the young lord into the time of the Vikings, thus beginning his journey into mystery.

"Thor," the professor replied anxiously, standing aside to allow the man in.

"What ails three, Professor?"

"The stone tablet … the one which sent 'Jimmy the Red' into the past so long ago … it's been stolen!"

* * *

Thor arrived later at the town of Mohra, where the tablet had originally been found. He was surprised to see a midnight black aircraft landed on the outskirts, and descended next to it, hailing the pilot.

"Wingman," he said as the other man dismounted from the cockpit. "What brings thee to this isolated site?"

"I've been tracking down a thief," Wingman replied guardedly, "and yourself?"

"The same," Thor said, "and likely the same thief as well. We shouldst compare note."

"If you wish."

Afterwards, seated in the flying wing, Thor furrowed his brow. "A radioactive element, alchemy, time travel … what couldst King Kraken be after?"

"His ancestor Count Magnus was a bit of a rascal in his time," Wingman said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, "and he had his own interests in black pilgrimages. If King Kraken is trying to connect with the Count and add sophisticated technology to whatever research the other man had … "

"The mixture of magic and science typically bodes ill," Thor mused.

Wingman pondered these words from an apparent god of legend who existed in modern times; he had privately wondered how much of the man's powers were actually the results of some sort of advanced science.

Thor remembered then the source of the metal of Fairytales Fenton's famed hammer: "The Siljansringen … the meteoric crater ring. Whatever he wished to find there … "

There was a second signal on his emergency line, and Wingman activated the communicator. After a brief discussion into the mouthpiece, he grunted. "Whatever he found, it sounds like he's causing no end of trouble."

* * *

From behind his camera-eye, King Kraken manipulated the fragments of metal into the field of a samarium-cobalt magnet to fuse the pair together. He shielded his eyes from the resulting glare, visible even through the optic lenses. When the light subsided, he watched, amazed, at the recorders. The energy levels generated by the fusion were almost off the scale.

* * *

Thor and Wingman were stunned by the wreckage surrounding the base. Slowly, they descended, looking for the man who appeared to be leading the attack force.

"Wingman," Commissioner Harst said, extending his hand. "I hope you're here to clean up this mess."

Wingman took the man's hand and nodded.

"What was the cause of all this, Commissioner?" Thor enquired. "I understand there was some sort of villain using a hammer like mine?"

Harst nodded. "He was capable of weather control ... he created these tornadoes and lightning storms which devastated my police force. Right now we've got him under guard, he's holed up in the storage facility where the government has stored several cobalt bombs."

Thor pondered. He had considered the possibility someone might try to duplicate the combination of science and magic which Fairytales Fenton had chanced upon once: he had never come across its like before.

They entered the facility. King Kraken was directing the AVM Man, who was stacking cobalt bombs into the corner of the room. Accompanying them was a shorter man known only as Lutefisk, his limbs not shaped like any hard or arm, but comparable to the tentacles of a devil-fish.

"Well, my friend," Wingman said, "would you care to explain your actions?"

King Kraken peered at the pair. "I was almost hoping you'd show." He held up a hammer which resembled Thor's almost exactly. "We are the Thalassic Threesome, and we have a surprise for you." He started to twirl the hammer in his hand, generating a miniature whirlwind headed directly towards his opponents.

"Py Yiminy," Thor exclaimed, using his own hammer to block it. Wingman headed back to his flying wing, directing a series of razor-sharp wing-shaped darts in the Threesome's direction as he did so, only to see them dissolved in the corrosive lye spray of Lutefisk. Wingman took off nearly vertically, circling around the combatants, and he saw the AVM Man begin to increase in size as some threatening combination of whale, oak tree, and mountain.

Beneath the red-bearded visage of Thor, Jimmy Olsen began to fret. He had never encountered a foe whose powers so matched his own, and he knew that despite his pretences of being the god of old, he was much younger and possibly less experienced than King Kraken. He saw Wingman's craft moving evasively around the AVM Man's massive reach, and wondered how long his ally would be able to hold out.

The two men traded hurricane for hurricane, tornado for tornado, hailstorm for hailstorm while Thor desperately searched his mind for some sort of stratagem. From his conversations with Wingman, he gathered that this new hammer had been constructed using a form of alchemy, something not dissimilar from what had been used to create Fairytales Fenton's original hammer; and he knew from Henry Meke that despite its great power, the other hammer's ability to conduct electricity without short-circuiting was limited.

Aboard the octopod-like craft which the Threesome had utilised, Lutefisk drags to the surface the battered and bleeding superhero known as the Leaper. He held a tentacle over the man's face. "Surrender now," he hissed, "or Bjornson will receive severe punishments with no sparing hand." Wingman flew closer. "Surrender?" he scoffed, and without another word a missile ejected from his flying wing, exploding the craft.

With a great cry, Thor used his innate strength to bull his way through King Kraken's onslaught. His opponent stepped back, and when Thor was close enough, he used his hammer to transform back into Jimmy Olsen. The lad was almost swept away by the icy storm surrounding him, but he immediately transformed back into Thor. Disorienting his foe, he edged closer until his hammer touched King Kraken's, and finally the newly constructed hammer exploded.

Thor focused his attentions on the AVM Man now, and blows from his hammer and additional missiles from Wingman felled the giant, causing him to revert to the unconscious human form of Sven Larson.

As Wingman circled around once more and landed, Thor alighted next to the burning wreckage. He looked around wildly and saw, sanding several yards away, the Leaper, whose rubber-titanium outfit had allowed him to rebound free of the explosion. The man fell to his knees as Thor raced over to him. He knelt by the fallen hero, checking his pulse. "You'll be to a hospital soon," he says quietly. He rose, and glared at Wingman. "What were you thinking?" he roared. "You could have killed the man!"

Wingman raised his hands in a shrug. "What, you think we're a team, 'Three Vigilantes'? I came here to defeat King Kraken and his allies, and I did that, thank you."

Thor raised his hammer, and a bolt of lightning arced down from the gray skies onto the flying wing, causing Wingman to cover his face protectively in disgust as his own craft exploded. Another bolt of lightning descended near Wingman's feet, causing him to leap out of the way.

"This is not how heroes behave," Thor said. He scooped up the Leaper into one arm. "Cross me again, and I'll not be so careful." Once again, Thor whirled the hammer in a twisting motion to gain momentum and then threw it into the air, taking to the skies and leaving Wingman to find his way home.

* * *

NOTES:

This rendition of Thor is the only Superman counterpart in the series I have outright invented, although he is derived from concepts introduced in _Jimmy Olsen_ #50 (Jimmy's descent from the Lord of Olsen Castle in Sweden), _Jimmy Olsen_ #55 (Jimmy's travel back in time to the age of the Vikings, to become Thor's best pal), and _Batman_ #127 (Henry Meke and the hammer of Thor) . Thor of Earth-Sweden is a very different character from the Thor of Earth-Norway referenced in another story.

Wingman and The Leaper are the only canonical DC heroes from Sweden, although this Earth has also been protected by the Sea Devils and a counterpart of Sven Nelson (Kent Nelson's father on Earth-2).

Count Magnus was created by M.R. James and I have quoted fragments of his prose.


End file.
